October at CERA:
A Round Trip on the Liberty Bell Limited
Step back in time and enjoy rare color film footage the late Gerhard Salomon captured from 1947 to 1951, covering Lehigh Valley Transit Company‘s entire Liberty Bell Line from Downtown Allentown to Philadelphia’s 69th Street Terminal. We will also see the Liberty Bell Limited cars on the LVT City Division and on the Easton Limited. Come join us for what promises to be a fun evening. (By special arrangement with the Rockhill Trolley Museum.)
Friday, October 25, 2013
1900 hrs / 7:00pm
University Center
525 S State St, Chicago, IL
Admission is free for current CERA Members, and $5 for non-members.
LVT 701 near Locust Siding on October 22, 1950. (Unknown Photographer)
LVT C15 near Centre Valley on October 10, 1950. (Unknown Photographer)
We will also be selling copies of our new book Trolley Sparks Special #1 at the meeting for $32, which includes 9.25% Illinois Sales Tax.
PS- There are three tables set up at each monthly CERA meeting. The table nearest the door is reserved for CERA’s use. The other two tables can be used by members to sell their wares on a first-come, first-served basis.
Table setup is not permitted once the meeting has started, and attendees are not permitted to sell items without a table. Everyone’s cooperation with these rules is greatly appreciated.
CERA News for October 2013
Trolley Sparks Special #1 – A Limited Number of Copies Are Still Available
Everyone who attended our 75th Anniversary Banquet and Program on September 21st received a copy of our special retrospective book Trolley Sparks Special #1, edited by John Marton. In addition, all pre-order copies of our newest book were shipped out in late September.
A limited number of books are still available for immediate shipment. The cost is just $29, which includes domestic postage. (Illinois residents pay 9.25% sales tax.) International shipping costs $12. This book is not part of our regular membership entitlement.
You can order yours today either online (via our web site) or by mail. The book makes an excellent gift, so why not pick up an extra copy today with the holidays coming up? Don’t wait until we are completely sold out!
CSL/CTA 4391 at the Illinois Railway Museum in the mid-1980s. (Photo by David Sadowski)
B-146 – Chicago Streetcar Pictorial: the PCC Car Era
We made a special announcement revealing our next book (B-146) at the banquet. This will be the membership entitlement for 2012 members. We are very excited about the new book, and you will be too!
The Chicago Streetcar Pictorial: the PCC Car Era will cover the routes that used PCCs from one end to the other in spectacular color images. This will be the first CERA book devoted entirely to Chicago streetcars. We feel that CERA is the right organization to publish such a book, and that it is important to both get it right, and get it out within the living memory of those who rode Chicago streetcars.
Photo selection for the book is going on right now. If you have quality photos of Chicago PCCs that would be useful for our book, we would love to hear from you. We have already received permission from several excellent photographers to use their work in the book. Can you help contribute?
Other Upcoming Publications
CERA’s Publications Committee continues to work on several upcoming book projects, in various stages of completion. We expect to publish two books next year, B-146 in the spring and B-147 in the fall. The title of B-147 will be announced sometime next year. That will be the book entitlement for 2013 CERA members.
More quality images are needed in order to complete our upcoming Chicago, Ottawa & Peoria book. If you can contribute to this important volume, please let us know. Your help is greatly appreciated.
2014 Memberships Now Available
Starting October 9th, we are now accepting memberships for 2014, either by mail or through our web site.
2014 Membership Rates:
Associate USA $42
Active USA $45
Contributing $90-179
Sustaining $180+
Associate International $72
Active International $75
Due to the increased costs of mailing outside the US, especially for sending books, there is now a $30 surcharge for International Active or Associate memberships.
Our 2014 CERA Membership Card features a color picture of a Chicago PCC streetcar, in honor of our upcoming book B-146, to be published in spring 2014. Once you purchase your membership, we will mail out your membership card right away. It will have your CERA member # and membership class noted on it.Become a card-carrying member of CERA today!
(Note: we are still accepting 2013 memberships, which entitle you to a book (B-147), which we currently expect to be mailed in fall 2014. It also entitles you to free admission at the rest of this year’s CERA program meetings.)
We Thank You
Thanks to all those who attended our recent 75th Anniversary events, which were very well attended. Special thanks go out to both Walter Keevil, who gave the program at our banquet, and Harvey Laner, who did the same at our regular September membership meeting.
-Your CERA Directors
